PAIR OF GAMES PRIOR TO CHRISTMAS: UC Irvine faces UCLA Tuesday night at the L.A. Sports Arena before hosting Hope International Thursday evening in the Bren Center.

The Bruins are 5-5 on the season and the Royals are 7-1.

Second-year head coach Russell Turner's Anteaters open Big West Conference play at Cal State Northridge Dec. 29.

UCI is 2-8 overall following road losses to Wyoming (58-48) and LSU (66-59) last week.

UC IRVINE PLAYER NOTES

■ Freshman guard AARON WRIGHT is out indefinitely with a knee injury sustained midway through the second half of last Tuesday's loss at Wyoming. He had started five straight games prior to his injury.

He has 27 assists this season, recording a career-high seven in the Dec. 3 win over San Diego.

Wright scored a career-high 14 points at San Jose State Nov. 14 and snared a career-high eight rebounds in the Dec. 10 win over Vanguard.

■ Junior guard DAMAN STARRING leads UCI in scoring at 12.2 points per game, scoring a UCI career-high 21 against Alaska-Anchorage and Weber State in November.

Starring has pulled down 32 rebounds in the last five games, including a career-high nine boards in the Dec. 10 win over Vanguard and added 16 points.

In the past seven games, he has converted 21 of 24 (.875) free throws. Starring ranks third in the Big West Conference in three-point field goal percentage (.455), ninth in free-throw percentage (.806) and 13th in scoring (12.2).

He averaged 18.7 points in three games at the Great Alaska Shootout in late November. Starring scored 27 points against Texas College as a redshirt freshman at Centenary (La.) College in the 2009-10 season before transferring to UCI.

■ Junior forward MICHAEL WILDER ranks second in the Big West Conference in three-point field goals made per game at 2.70 as he has hit 27 in the season's first 10 games. He is seventh in the league in three-point field goal percentage at .415.

Wilder has hit 20 of 41 (.488) threes in the past six games, including 5 of 10 at LSU last Thursday.

He has scored a season-high 19 points three times this season, including the LSU game. Wilder also scored 19 in the 99-79 win over San Diego Dec. 3 and against Central Michigan at the Great Alaska Shootout in a game where he had 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season and third of his career.

Wilder snared 10 rebounds for the second time this season at Wyoming last Tuesday.

■ Sophomore guard CHRIS McNEALY is averaging 9.2 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. He had eight boards in the loss at LSU last Thursday and tied his career high with 11 in the Dec. 10 win over Vanguard. He also had 11 rebounds against Southern Miss at the Great Alaska Shootout Nov. 24.

McNealy ranks seventh in the Big West Conference with his 6.5 rebounding average.

He equaled his career high of 16 points in the Dec. 3 victory over San Diego, hitting 7 of 8 field goals. He added a career-high six assists in that win.

McNealy recorded his first career double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds in the 78-67 loss to Southern Miss at the Great Alaska Shootout Nov. 24.

■ Freshman post WILL DAVIS II leads UCI in rebounding at 6.6 per game, which ranks sixth in the Big West Conference.

He is fifth in the conference in field-goal percentage (.494), eighth in blocked shots (0.8 per game) and offensive rebounds (2.3 per game).

Davis is 20 of 30 (.667) from the field in the past four games. He had career highs of 17 points and 12 rebounds in the 75-73 win over Vanguard Dec. 10.

■ Junior center ADAM FOLKER, who missed the entire regular season last year due to injuries, has 24 offensive rebounds in his total of 49 boards this season. He ranks sixth in the Big West Conference in offensive boards at 2.4 per game.

Folker went 7 of 11 from the field in the road losses to Wyoming and LSU last week, and is shooting 51.1 percent for the season. He hit 5 of 6 shots and scored a season-high 11 points in the Dec. 3 win over San Diego.

■ Freshman guard COLLIN WOODS tied his career high with two assists in the LSU game last Thursday and he scored four points each in the losses to Wyoming and LSU. Woods scored a season-high nine points against Central Michigan at the Great Alaska Shootout Nov. 25.

■ Junior guard DERICK FLOWERS has scored a career-high nine points three times this season, including at Wyoming last Tuesday night.

■ Freshman center MIKE BEST scored six points at LSU on 3-of-5 shooting for his second-highest output of the season.

■ Freshman forward MARCUS BRADLEY scored a season-high six points in the 77-56 loss at Cal Nov. 11 to open the season. He has pulled down a high of two rebounds in three separate games.

■ Freshman forward TRAVIS SOUZA has played in five games, but not since the Dec. 3 win over San Diego due to an ankle injury.

ABOUT UCLA: Coach Ben Howland's Bruins are 5-5 after an 82-39 win over UC Davis at the Honda Center Saturday. UCLA has won its last three games.

Senior guard Lazeric Jones leads the Bruins in scoring at 13.2 points per game and he is averaging 3.7 assists.